ROSIE RUNS

A greyhound abandons her pursuit of mechanical hares in favor of chasing her dreams in this translated Finnish import by award-winning author and artist Maijala.

Rosie runs, but she never gets anywhere. After racing other dogs at the track, the exhausted white greyhound is shut in a cage, where she dreams of “forests, fields, and real hares.” Winning brings no satisfaction, so one day, Rosie keeps running—past the astonished crowd, beyond the racetrack, through a forest and a city, until, at last, she reaches a park. There, two friendly dogs invite Rosie, still wearing her red racing suit, to play—and, suddenly, a new world opens up to a dog whose life was bound by the bars of a kennel and the narrow confines of a racing track. The whimsical, abstract art, executed in broad, playful, childlike strokes of oil pastel and crayon, add to the story’s sense of innocent adventure and discovery. The absence of black outlines in the joyful and expressive illustrations lends a sense of fluidity in keeping with the storyline. The large trim size begs readers to notice small details about the people (who are diverse in skin tone and hair color) and bustling background scenes. Spangenberg’s translation reads smoothly, capturing the poignancy of Rosie’s tale and the juxtaposition between her urgent flight to freedom and the ordinary lives unfolding around her.

A touching, optimistic, and charmingly rendered story of hope and resilience.